


Heart-felt Apology

by lesyeuxverts



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Apologies, M/M, Post-War, Unusual Career
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-03-02
Updated: 2014-03-02
Packaged: 2018-01-14 07:21:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,646
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1257757
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lesyeuxverts/pseuds/lesyeuxverts
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After years of searching every apothecary in the country, haunting silent libraries and dull Potions conferences, Harry found Severus Snape in a pet shop.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Heart-felt Apology

After years of searching every apothecary in the country, haunting silent libraries and dull Potions conferences, Harry found Severus Snape in a pet shop. He stepped in out of the downpour and into the musty shelter, shaking off the rain and blinking in the bright light.   
  
The shop bell tinkled as Harry pushed the door closed behind him, and he stopped at the sight of Snape, dark in the beams of electric light, gaunt and stern, a kitten cradled in his slim hands.   
  
"Snape? What are you doing here?"  
  
Harry didn't wait for an answer, his tongue twisting in his dry mouth as he tripped over his words. "I need to talk to you – tea at the shop down the road? A pint at the Three Broomsticks?"  
  
Snape turned away from Harry, putting the kitten into a cage. His hands trembled as he faced Harry again. "You have nothing to say that I wish to hear, Mr. Potter."  
  
"News of the wizarding world? An official Ministry pardon? A job offer at Hogwarts? Isn't there anything, Severus?"  
  
Snape blinked, with the flutter of dark eyelashes against his pale skin enough to make Harry swallow, mouth dry and heart pounding. Dark hair, slender fingers, a pale throat arched with sounds of ecstasy, with the passion between them that night, and Harry's hands clenched into fists at the memory.  
  
"No. There is nothing."  
  
"A heartfelt apology?" Harry asked, taking a step closer. He pressed himself into Snape's space, close enough to see his tremors and feel his warmth.  
  
Snape stepped back, bumping into the counter and grabbing a cage to steady himself. The kitten inside the cage mewed, batting a paw through the bars and jabbing Snape's hand with its claws. Snape didn't even wince.  
  
"That would depend on the apology," he said.  
  
"I am sorry," Harry said, stepping closer until they were toe to toe. "I'm sorry for believing the worst of you, for not trusting you, for abandoning you."  
  
Snape's knuckles whitened around the bars of the cage. "And?"  
  
Harry reached out and placed his hand on Snape's. He was stabbed by kitten-sharp claws, but he pushed the paw away and stroked Severus's hand. "And what?"  
  
Snape swallowed and flushed. "Will you not also apologize for what you did ... that night?"  
  
Stepping even closer, Harry stood between Snape's legs and leaned against his warmth. He placed one hand, palm flat, on Severus's chest, feeling the rhythm of his breathing, tracing the bony ribs hidden by the layers of clothing. "I won't apologize for anything that I don't regret."  
  
Snape was the first to blink, and Harry counted it as a victory. He leaned closer, leaned up for a kiss, and Snape pushed him away.  
  
"Words are empty, Mr. Potter, and I don't want to hear them."  
  
"Let me show you, then," Harry said, stepping closer to Snape, backing him against an aquarium full of fish. They zipped through the water at the disturbance, with flashes of rainbow and silver scales, weaving through the murky green plants and congregating near Snape's dark shadow.  
  
"Show me? This means nothing." Snape ducked away, evading the circle of Harry's arms. He came to stand by the parrot cage, the bright feathers of the green and red bird highlighted against his dark clothing.   
  
"Nevermore," squawked the parrot, "nevermore." Wings beating the air, it fluffed its feathers, cocking its head to look at Snape.   
  
Snape ignored the bird, staring at Harry. "If you're sincere in your apology, sincere enough to obey me to the smallest detail, then I'll forgive you."  
  
"There's a python in the back," Snape said when Harry nodded, "in the last cage on the right. Discover what ails it."  
  
Harry reached up to ghost a kiss on Snape's cheek, and stayed on tiptoes, looking him in the eyes. "As you wish."  
  
The snake was eager to talk, and had a litany of complaints. There was too much light in the shop, the rats weren't plump, the boys poked at its cage, the heat lamp wasn't hot enough ... Harry smiled at the ease of the task that Snape had set him, and reassured the snake that comfort was forthcoming.  
  
He left it hissing with contentment, curled under the heat lamp that had been warmed with a discreet spell. Harry relayed the snake's complaints to Snape, who shook his head, his lip curling.  
  
"It seems that your standards of competency have slipped below the abysmal, Mr. Potter," Snape said. "Or did you not notice that the snake is suffering from illness?"  
  
"Illness?"  
  
"If I wanted a parrot, Potter, I would buy one." Snape's gaze flickered to the parrot's cage before Harry could comment, and the bird squawked.  
  
"Yes, an illness. It's refusing to drink or eat, even when tempted with the plumpest rats." Snape's expression was bored and shadowed with casual mockery – there was no sign of the passion they had shared, no echo of the night they had spent together.  
  
Harry brushed his hand across Severus's face, learning the shape of his cheekbones, tracing his nose and outlining his lips. Snape's skin did not yield to his touch, did not hold the warmth of passion. Snape's lips curled in a scowl, and Harry backed away from him.  
  
"Have Gryffindors no compassion? Go on then, heal the snake," Snape said, and he turned, stalking to the front of the shop. His jacket flapped in the air behind him, a pale echo of the billow and swirl of the robes that he used to wear, and Harry stared.   
  
The sneer of Snape's thin lips, the feeling of Snape's heartbeat against his fingers, the sharp jutting bones of jaw and ribs, the swirl of dark fabric as Snape undressed took Harry's breath away, and then it faded. The remembered smell of spell-fire and curse-smoke, the flush of their victory over Voldemort that had driven them to passion, it was lost in the smells of the pet shop and the task before him.   
  
Harry turned away from the man who had saved him, the man who had loved him, and turned to the snake, his heart fluttering.  
  
He unlocked the cage and reached in to lift out the snake, speaking to it in Parseltongue and letting it curl its tail around his forearm. He stroked it, the scales smooth under his fingertips, the snake hissing a sigh of contentment. A touch of magic flowed between them, healing and comforting.   
  
Snape stalked down the aisle toward Harry. "Potter, your unadulterated idiocy never fails to astound me. What are you doing? You should know better than to handle a sick snake."  
  
"You said ..."  
  
Snape leaned closer, his hands brushing against Harry's forearm as he uncoiled the snake, and then he turned away, returning the snake to its cage. "I did not tell you to touch it. Even a Gryffindor should have more wits than that," he said.   
  
He locked the cage, and Harry stepped closer, pinning him against the wall. Snape leaned away, and Harry pressed his advantage, coming close enough to see Snape's pulse throbbing in his throat, close enough to smell the pleasant musk of his cologne. "I know I was stupid," he said. "Won't you forgive me, Severus?"  
  
Eyes closed, Snape shook his head.   
  
Harry stepped back, a rush of cooler air enfolding his body. "What ... is that it, then? No magical third task? No last chance? What do you want from me?"  
  
Without opening his eyes, Snape swallowed and said, "Leave me."  
  
The words fell into the space between two heartbeats, short but sharp enough to wound. Harry gaped at him. "You can't mean that."  
  
"I mean it. Never darken my doorstep again, never blight my thoughts, never sully me with your touch again, and then I will forgive you."  
  
The kitten in its cage at the front of the shop mewed, high and plaintive. Harry blinked. "You mean to tell me that you're willing to give up the wizarding world, all that magic has to offer? You're willing to give up what we had that night? You're going to give up everything to work in a dingy, smelly pet shop?"  
  
"We had nothing other than a mistake. Are you willing to tell me that you didn't run from my bed to the arms of Ginny Weasley, or that you haven't spent all these years trying to forget me?"   
  
"Severus, I ..."  
  
"Leave, Potter." Snape's lips drew together in a thin sneer, but his eyes remained closed, his eyelashes a dark shadow against his skin. A chorus of barks, meows and squawks rang through the shop, the animals trembling and restless in their cages.   
  
Harry blinked and stepped closer. "I've already failed at the first two tasks you set me," he said. "If you tell me one last time, if you open your eyes and look at me when you say it, then ..."  
  
Snape shook his head, and Harry grabbed his shoulders, leaning close enough to kiss him. With the warmth of Snape's breath on his lips, Harry found the courage to say, "I'm sorry."   
  
"Potter, I ..."  
  
Harry closed the gap between them with a kiss. Fleeting and chaste, it was only the touch of dry lips together, and yet Snape opened his eyes. "Will you ..."  
  
"I'm not leaving you this time."  
  
Snape brushed a pair of kisses across Harry's cheekbones. "The tenacity of a Gryffindor," he said. "I shan't be able to be rid of you now."  
  
Harry's grip on his shoulders tightened. "No."  
  
Snape leaned into his touch for a moment and then he sighed, his breath warm on Harry's neck. "I'd like that cup of tea, and the news that you offered me earlier. Shall we?"  
  
The parrot squawked, "Nevermore," just as Harry reached for Snape's hand, and Snape smiled. "Cheeky bird," he said, and then kissed Harry's hand before leading him out of the pet shop and into the street.


End file.
